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I've got an old Core 2 Duo ULV laptop at 1.4Ghz, 4GB ram, 180GB SSD. When it comes to streaming content it can lag quite a bit using Chrome, Opera, or Firefox. The fix? It's weird but when I run Netflix, youtube, etc. on Edge it all works fine - so that's what I do. Wired or wireless doesn't seem to matter.

captaintrav wrote:

just brew it! wrote:

The MacBook Pro I use for work seems sturdy enough. I still prefer my EliteBook though, because the keyboard is more "normal" and I can run Linux on it natively.

Not to derail the topic, but you can't run Linux on a MacBook?

Well, in theory I probably could. But: 1) Running something other than our corporate OS X image on my primary device is going to result in additional headaches (both technical and bureaucratic); 2) switching OSes doesn't fix the keyboard; and 3) running Linux natively would probably negate one of the two things I actually *like* about the MBP, namely the battery life (the other one being the Retina display).

Running Linux under VirtualBox seems to work well enough (provided I remember to take the VM out of full-screen mode before disconnecting the external monitor) that I'm not willing to tangle with issue #1 above.

Phaleron wrote:

I've got an old Core 2 Duo ULV laptop at 1.4Ghz, 4GB ram, 180GB SSD. When it comes to streaming content it can lag quite a bit using Chrome, Opera, or Firefox. The fix? It's weird but when I run Netflix, youtube, etc. on Edge it all works fine - so that's what I do. Wired or wireless doesn't seem to matter.

That's interesting. I'm thinking because Edge is not a cross-platform browser it's much better at using whatever DirectX, Direct2D or to render the video using the least amount of CPU power? The claim is that you get the best battery life when using Edge too, so it's definitely efficient.

just brew it! wrote:

captaintrav wrote:

just brew it! wrote:

The MacBook Pro I use for work seems sturdy enough. I still prefer my EliteBook though, because the keyboard is more "normal" and I can run Linux on it natively.

Not to derail the topic, but you can't run Linux on a MacBook?

Well, in theory I probably could. But: 1) Running something other than our corporate OS X image on my primary device is going to result in additional headaches (both technical and bureaucratic); 2) switching OSes doesn't fix the keyboard; and 3) running Linux natively would probably negate one of the two things I actually *like* about the MBP, namely the battery life (the other one being the Retina display).

Running Linux under VirtualBox seems to work well enough (provided I remember to take the VM out of full-screen mode before disconnecting the external monitor) that I'm not willing to tangle with issue #1 above.

Ah, ok, I was just curious if there was some way Apple locked you out of booting into another OS, which I would find annoying since there was even PPC versions of Linux you could run back in the day.

captaintrav wrote:

Ah, ok, I was just curious if there was some way Apple locked you out of booting into another OS, which I would find annoying since there was even PPC versions of Linux you could run back in the day.

Still are. Besides x86 and x86-64, Debian has currently active ports for ARM, MIPS, PPC, and s390x (IBM z-series mainframes). Ubuntu also supports a subset of those.

@kvndoom

Have you tried forcing either the Intel or nVidia card to be used when your browser is running?

Right click desktop > nVidia Control Panel > Manage 3D settings (I know, but it's not just 3D settings!) > Program Settings tab

For step 1, click the "Add" button and pick your browser .exe.
For step 2, select either the Intel or nVidia GPU (try both, see which one behaves better).
Hit apply and try it out.

Graphical instructions at

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/search-r ... Works.html

Funnily enough, I can't try it myself, as I can't get Optimus to enable on my HP zBook after toggling the BIOS option back on but thought it might be worth a try.

T

kvndoom wrote:

Hey I'll take sturdy over thin any day.

I'll take sturdy and thin.

End User wrote:

kvndoom wrote:

Hey I'll take sturdy over thin any day.

I'll take sturdy and thin.

For $180? Got any pointers?

I'm guessing we should dive his dumpster, it seems he throws out like 10k worth of perfectly viable gear per year.

Glorious wrote:

I'm guessing we should dive his dumpster, it seems he throws out like 10k worth of perfectly viable gear per year.

Yeah, no kidding. The off-lease EliteBook 8460p was even a bit of a splurge, especially given that I upgraded the RAM and swapped out the HDD for an SSD!

My best laptop is a ThinkPad T61, OPs would be a great upgrade! I wonder how many people are running a Core2 Duo with an SSD, though - it's surprisingly usable.

JBI wrote:

Yeah, no kidding. The off-lease EliteBook 8460p was even a bit of a splurge, especially given that I upgraded the RAM and swapped out the HDD for an SSD!

We have bizarrely similar tastes in hardware, as I have the 8440p as I alluded to earlier.

Glorious wrote:

I'm guessing we should dive his dumpster, it seems he throws out like 10k worth of perfectly viable gear per year.

What are you going on about? I'm still rocking my 2012 3770K based gaming rig.

captaintrav wrote:

My best laptop is a ThinkPad T61, OPs would be a great upgrade! I wonder how many people are running a Core2 Duo with an SSD, though - it's surprisingly usable.

My Dad is using a SSD equipped Core 2 Duo based system. It is very responsive.

ludi wrote:

Got any pointers?

Make sure it plays HTML5 video.

After testing the other two video services last night:

Hulu: Runs fine in all broswers, didn't try the app since it worked on FF/Chrome anyway.

Amazon Prime video: no dice in FF/Chrome, and the Windows Store app actually opens your default browser when you try to play a video . Plays as it should in Edge, however.

So I've done all I can. Gonna leave a few keywords so anyone who runs into this problem in the future should find this thread on google. nvs 1000m hp elitebook Netflix core i5 520m hulu amazon prime video freezing stutters problems choppy issues playback

Peeeaceout!

I didn't see an answer - did you try disabling video decode acceleration?

captaintrav wrote:

My best laptop is a ThinkPad T61, OPs would be a great upgrade! I wonder how many people are running a Core2 Duo with an SSD, though - it's surprisingly usable.

I was up to about 2 years ago, the screen died. The T61 lasted me a long long time and owed me nothing. I really liked the old T series, not sure how they are now though. Seems like they just quite like the days of old.